The United manager confirmed he wants to sign up to three players this summer, with midfielder Darren Fletcher facing an uncertain future due to illness and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes closer to 40 than 30.

Last summer, Arsenal’s Samir Nasri was close to joining United but went to City who were able to offer him a higher salary, worth £175,000 a week. They signed James Milner and Gareth Barry by gazumping Chelsea and Liverpool respectively.

Ferguson said on Saturday: ‘No one can match City’s financial power, no one. The transfer market has been insane for a while and I think clubs like City create that. They can buy all the players, and put a marker on all the players, it makes it difficult then for clubs to be reasonable.

Hands off: Ferguson fears the spending power of rivals Manchester City

‘There’s no doubt we’ll be bringing players in. Maybe two or three, it depends on the kind of market we’re dealing with. We have to accept the situation, so we do it a different way.

'We will try and look at younger players with the potential to develop at the club. That is what we are good at. Scholes and Giggs are coming to the end. Players like them don’t fall off trees.’

Ferguson is an admirer of Modric, who wanted to leave Spurs to join Chelsea a year ago. Hazard, a 21-year-old Belgian international, is regarded as Europe’s hottest property and United are also interested in Benfica’s Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan.

City have been linked with Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and Tottenham’s Gareth Bale but will find it hard to persuade their clubs to sell.